I'd rather see Ishe and Miguel Espino given another shot since their fights were split decisions. Also, jeff never got his shot due to the chicken pox, so I wouldn't mind seeing him (but I doubt, he'll be voted in.)

Thanks Wolf. I voted for Miguel because not only was his fight a split decision but he was defeated by Peter. Since Peter got a chance to come back, so should he. Too bad he only has 1% of the votes right now.

Slow-healing ribs have knocked middleweight Joey Gilbert out of a chance to fight on “The Contender” under card at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas on Tuesday.

“He’s not medically eligible to fight if he’s chosen,” said Marc Ratner, the executive director of the Nevada Athletic Commission, on Tuesday. “I don’t know if he would’ve been chosen.”

The eight boxers who will appear in the four bouts on the under card before the title bout for the NBC reality show will be selected by an Internet vote. Ratner said the commission suspended Gilbert, the former three-time national collegiate champion at Nevada, because of the rib injury, and Ratner notified “The Contender” on Tuesday that the fighter was medically ineligible.

“He won’t be fighting anywhere until he’s healthy,” Ratner said. “We would’ve loved to see him fight, as a Nevadan, but we won’t knowingly put somebody in the ring that’s not 100 percent.”

One Northern Nevadan, Jesse Brinkley of Yerington, is expected to fight on Tuesday’s card.

Ratner said he received a letter from Gilbert’s Reno physician, Donald Huene of Orthopedic Surgical Associates, saying that Gilbert still suffered tenderness and slight swelling and wouldn’t be 100 percent for the fight.

Gilbert won his first bout on The Contender, which was taped Sept. 7, against Jimmy Lange. Gilbert suffered three fractured ribs when he lost a fifth round technical decision to Peter Manfredo in a bout taped Sept. 18.

“It would be stupid (to fight),” Gilbert said after a news conference in Reno on Tuesday to promote a heavyweight bout July 2. “The people that love me, the people that care about me from Mike Martino, Greg Rice and Marc Ratner to everybody else who knows about boxing, including my trainers, say, ‘You’re stupid to fight.’”

Martino is the Nevada Wolf Pack head coach and Rice is an assistant coach.

Gilbert said he had reinjured the ribs in sparring sessions with heavyweight Jeremy Williams and middleweight Sergo Mora, who also appeared on The Contender.

“The Nevada commission has a standard that’s much higher than anywhere else,” Gilbert said. “That’s just how they are. The last thing he (Ratner) wants to see is me safeguarding my left side as someone is hammering away at it and me getting hurt. In order for me to protect this (the ribs), I have to expose this (the jaw). If I got clipped, Mr. Ratner couldn’t sleep at night. He would feel responsible.”

Gilbert, who has a 9-1 record with seven knockouts, said he didn’t want to suffer a more severe injury that might jeopardize a potentially lucrative bout against Brinkley in Reno.

“The tournament’s over. The show’s over. The show has been canceled (for next year),” Gilbert said. “Why in the hell am I going to get in there not 100 percent? For what? The tournament’s over. If it was a shot at a million (for first place), I would be pleading (to fight). And not just taking a shot at a million, a chance to be champion of The Contender … it would be different.

“It might be an insignificant belt, but to me it was important to hold up that belt as The Contender champion.”